Maryland Archives | High Times https://hightimes.com/news/maryland/ The Magazine Of High Society Thu, 05 Jan 2023 14:12:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://i0.wp.com/hightimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cropped-FAVICON-1-1.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Maryland Archives | High Times https://hightimes.com/news/maryland/ 32 32 174047951 Maryland Voter-Approved Legalization Measure Takes Shape in New Year https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-voter-approved-legalization-measure-takes-shape-in-new-year/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=maryland-voter-approved-legalization-measure-takes-shape-in-new-year https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-voter-approved-legalization-measure-takes-shape-in-new-year/#respond Thu, 05 Jan 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=294158 A huge majority of Maryland voters passed the proposal in November.

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Maryland might still be years away from the launch of its new legal marijuana market, but the start of the new year has still marked the beginning of the post-prohibition era mid-Atlantic state.

A large majority of Maryland voters approved a ballot initiative in November that will both legalize recreational pot use for adults in the state and also establish a regulated retail cannabis market. 

Per local news station WJLA, although “recreational marijuana won’t be fully legal until July 1, as of now possession of up to 1.5 ounces is no longer a crime”; instead, according to the station, “It’s a civil violation carrying a $100 fine.”

“For amounts up to 2.5 ounces the fine is $250,” the station reported.

But the new law will yield immediate changes on the criminal justice front. 

According to WJLA, Marylanders with a cannabis-related conviction on their criminal record on will have it automatically be expunged by July 1, 2024, but they do not have to wait that long.

“You can go to the Maryland Courts website and apply for an expungement without any help from an attorney. They even have instructional videos,” the station said.

WJLA continued: “There is also very good news for those currently locked up for cannabis-related crimes. As long as that is the only crime for which they’re serving a sentence, they can immediately ask for resentencing and a judge must resentence to time served and they must be released.”

Sixty-seven percent of Maryland voters approved Question 4 in November, making the state the latest to end the prohibition on cannabis use. 

The “Yes on 4” campaign was bankrolled by Trulieve, a major cannabis company with a significant presence in Maryland’s existing medical cannabis market. 

The campaign also deployed former Baltimore Ravens player Eugene Monroe as its chairman. 

“Tonight voters in Maryland made history by bringing the era of failed marijuana prohibition to an end,” Monroe said in a statement following its passage in November, as quoted by the Associated Press. “For decades, the unequally enforced criminalization of cannabis in Maryland inflicted damage upon Black and Brown communities. We must turn the page on that disturbing history by centering Maryland’s legal marijuana market around racial equity. Cannabis legalization will create good-paying jobs, open up doors for small business owners, and generate new tax revenue for our state. Legislators in Maryland have a responsibility to ensure people in historically underserved communities are able to enjoy those benefits.”

The success of Question 4 was foreshadowed by a series of encouraging polls for the campaign.

One that was released in early October by the University of Maryland and The Washington Post found more than 70% of voters in favor of cannabis legalization.

“The thing that stood out to me is the high level of support and the diversity of support. Whether you look across party, region, almost every characteristic, you see majorities supporting this,” said Michael Hanmer, the director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, as quoted by The Washington Post. “That’s been the trend across the country. People have really shifted their views across time on this issue, all pointing in the direction of being more supportive.”

The “Yes on 4” campaign has been optimistic about the new law’s potential economic benefits for the state, projecting that legalization could “provide the state with over $135 million in tax revenue.” 

“That figure does not include city and county revenue or the savings from the millions of dollars Maryland spends each year enforcing marijuana possession laws. Passing Maryland Question 4 would empower local law enforcement to focus its limited resources on combating violent crimes. Of the ten counties in the United States with the highest rates of marijuana possession arrests, Maryland is home to three of them,” the campaign said on its website.

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Legalization Initiative Passes in Maryland with Question 4 https://hightimes.com/news/legalization-initiative-passes-in-maryland-with-question-4/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legalization-initiative-passes-in-maryland-with-question-4 https://hightimes.com/news/legalization-initiative-passes-in-maryland-with-question-4/#respond Wed, 09 Nov 2022 02:36:51 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=292602 Maryland data published in October showed that 73% of voters were in favor of legalization—and the results show that this was true for voters.

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Voters approved Question 4, also called the Marijuana Legalization Amendment, in Maryland on Nov. 8. The passage of this initiative amends the Maryland Constitution with Article XX which allows cannabis possession and consumption for adults 21 and older, starting on or after July 1, 2023. The amendment also instructs the Maryland General Assembly to “provide for the use, distribution, possession, regulation, and taxation of cannabis within the state.”

Companion legislation known as House Bill 837 has also become law, now that voters passed Question 4, possession of cannabis up to 1.5 ounces of flower and 10 grams of concentrate, is immediately decriminalized after Jan. 1, 2023, and will become legal after June 30, 2023. The bill permits residents to grow two cannabis plants at home, and immediately expunges anyone with cannabis convictions on their record, if their crimes are made legal by the passing of Question 4 and HB-837. It also permits the creation of the Cannabis Business Assistance Fund (to assist minority- and women-owned cannabis businesses) and Cannabis Public Health Fund (a collection of legislators and other important industry members who will enact change based on studies of youth impact, reporting data, public health campaigns, and more).

The “Yes on 4” campaign led the charge with this initiative, which is chaired by former NFL athlete Eugene Monroe. The initiative’s success can also be attributed to donors such as SunMed Growers, Trulieve Medical Cannabis Dispensary, Curio Wellness, Marijuana Policy Project, and Green Thumb Industries.

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Legislative Report Projects $72 Billion Cannabis Industry By 2030 https://hightimes.com/business/legislative-report-projects-72-billion-cannabis-industry-by-2030/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legislative-report-projects-72-billion-cannabis-industry-by-2030 https://hightimes.com/business/legislative-report-projects-72-billion-cannabis-industry-by-2030/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:56:47 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=292469 A new report delivered to Maryland lawmakers this week shows the national market for legal cannabis growing to $72 billion per year by 2030.

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A new legislative report delivered to Maryland lawmakers this week projects that the nationwide market for legal cannabis could climb to $72 billion per year by 2030, more than double the current market estimation of $32 billion annually. But the report also shows that some states that have legalized cannabis have failed to set clear social equity goals and that the regulated marijuana market nationwide lacks a proportionate representation of Black-owned businesses.

Lawmakers in Maryland are exploring how legalized adult-use cannabis would impact the state, where voters will decide on recreational marijuana legalization in this month’s general election. On Tuesday, the Maryland House of Delegates’ Cannabis Referendum and Legalization work group met virtually to assess a report on the nationwide cannabis regulation climate.

A $75 Billion Industry

The report, which was prepared and presented to the work group by Mathew Swinburne, associate director of Network for Public Health Law-Eastern Region of Baltimore, includes information from New Frontier Data that projects steady growth of the nationwide market as current markets mature and new states are added to the roster of legal cannabis states. Growing from $32 billion in 2022, the projection estimates a total market nationwide of $72 billion by 2030. 

“We know that the cannabis industry is a profitable industry,” said Swinburne. “This is a new industry that is filled with economic opportunity and that opportunity is only growing,” he added. “Although this industry presents some significant economic opportunities, communities of color are missing out on this cannabis boom.”

Swinburne told the work group that jobs in the cannabis industry rose from about 321,000 in 2020 to approximately 428,000 a year later. However, the report also notes that 81% of cannabis businesses are owned by white people and 58% of businesses have no employees who are members of minority groups. 

Efforts to address the lack of diversity in the cannabis industry have been inconsistent, the report notes. Of the 19 states that have legalized recreational marijuana, Alaska, Maine, Montana, and Oregon do not have social equity measures in place to help improve equitable representation in the cannabis industry.

Swinburne highlighted some states’ approach to social equity, noting that Connecticut provides financial incentives for medical cannabis business owners to partner with new small or minority-owned businesses to provide assistance over a specified timeframe. Massachusetts provides accessible opportunities to enter the market by allowing courier and delivery operators to provide cannabis products directly to consumers. And in New York, regulators have created a $200 million fund to support social equity businesses and have prioritized those with past convictions for marijuana offenses for the state’s first 100 recreational cannabis dispensary licenses.

Delegate C.T. Wilson of Charles County, chair of the House Economic Matters Committee, asked Swinburne how taxation in other states with legal cannabis has impacted the illicit market and illegal marijuana sales.

“That’s a definite challenge states are confronted with,” Swinburne replied. “If your goal is to decrease the share of the unlicensed market, you have to keep your licensed market competitive. It’s important to highlight with the tax revenue you get, there’s a moral obligation to use some of that for addressing the harms that were caused [in low-income communities].”

Senator Melony Griffith of Prince George’s County asked if any states that have legalized recreational marijuana had implemented policies, such as a disparity study, that was required “to produce evidence of their race concise remedies,” but Swinburne said the report did not assess that issue in its analysis.

Maryland Voters To Decide On Legalizing Weed

In next week’s midterm election, voters in Maryland will decide on Question 4, a referendum that would amend the state constitution to legalize marijuana for adults 21 years of age or older beginning in July 2023. The measure also directs the state legislature to pass laws for the use, distribution, regulation, and taxation of marijuana. 

Currently, marijuana is legal for medicinal use in Maryland under a 2013 law, while possession of 10 grams or less of cannabis was decriminalized in 2014. Question 4 is overwhelmingly supported by Maryland voters, with a recent poll from The Washington Post and the University of Maryland showing 73% in favor of the proposal.

Voter Tamara McKinney of Prince George’s County told Maryland Matters that she plans to vote in favor of Question 4, but said she hopes the launch of the state’s recreational marijuana program will provide resources for Black and brown communities and those who have been incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses.

“De-criminalizing it helps keep our men out of the [criminal justice] system,” she said. “But if it helps to keep them out the system, what are we doing to keep them out [of jail]? I want them to have more resources than just the ability to get high.”

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Majority in Maryland Backs Legalization Weeks Before Vote https://hightimes.com/news/majority-in-maryland-backs-legalization-weeks-before-vote/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=majority-in-maryland-backs-legalization-weeks-before-vote https://hightimes.com/news/majority-in-maryland-backs-legalization-weeks-before-vote/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2022 16:25:15 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=291742 Almost three in four Maryland voters support, survey finds.

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Weeks before Maryland voters will head to the polls and decide whether to legalize recreational cannabis, a new survey suggests that the measure is poised to pass.

The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that 73% of voters in the state favor the legalization of cannabis for adults aged 21 and older, while only 23% said they were opposed. Four percent of voters said they had no opinion.

The findings bode well for supporters of Question 4, which would legalize adult-use marijuana in Maryland beginning July 1, 2023, and establish a regulated cannabis market in the state.


Maryland is one of several states where voters will decide on recreational pot measures this November. (Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota are the others.)

The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, released on Wednesday, suggests Maryland is highly likely to join the 19 other states that have legalized recreational pot use for adults.

“The thing that stood out to me is the high level of support and the diversity of support. Whether you look across party, region, almost every characteristic, you see majorities supporting this,” said Michael Hanmer, the director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, as quoted by The Washington Post. “That’s been the trend across the country. People have really shifted their views across time on this issue, all pointing in the direction of being more supportive.”

The Washington Post noted that the poll showed the measure to be “especially popular among young voters, with 87 percent of voters under 40 favoring legalization.”

“By far those most enthusiastic about legalization are young voters. Almost 9 in 10 voters under age 40 said they support legalizing cannabis, compared with roughly 7 in 10 of those ages 40 to 64 and just over half of those 65 and older,” the Post reported.

Moreover, the survey found that “77 percent of Black voters and 70 percent of White voters favor the proposal,” which also boasts “strong support from wide majorities of independents (81 percent) and registered Democrats (78 percent), along with a narrow majority of registered Republicans (53 percent).”

Lawmakers in Maryland passed legislation earlier this year to set a ballot referendum for marijuana legalization.

Question 4 is heavily backed by the cannabis giant Trulieve, which has several medical marijuana dispensaries in Maryland.

The chairman of the “Yes on 4” campaign is Eugene Monroe, a former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens and a marijuana advocate.

“Legalizing cannabis would stimulate Maryland’s economy and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, while allowing Maryland residents to benefit from vital investments in education, public health, and public safety funded by cannabis taxes,” Monroe said last month, as the Question 4 campaign officially kicked off.

The “Yes on 4” campaign is bullish on what recreational marijuana could mean for Maryland’s economy.

“Marijuana legalization is projected to provide the state with over $135 million in tax revenue. That figure does not include city and county revenue or the savings from the millions of dollars Maryland spends each year enforcing marijuana possession laws. Passing Maryland Question 4 would empower local law enforcement to focus its limited resources on combating violent crimes. Of the ten counties in the United States with the highest rates of marijuana possession arrests, Maryland is home to three of them,” the campaign says on its website.

This week’s Washington Post-University of Maryland is not the first survey to suggest that Maryland voters are ready to end prohibition on pot.

A Goucher College poll released in March found that 62% of Maryland voters support legalizing cannabis for recreational use, compared with only 34% who said they were opposed.

That poll also found bipartisan support, with 65% of Democrats and independents, and 54% of Republicans, all saying they backed legalization.

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House Bill 837 Aims to Legalize Pot Possession, Home Grow in Maryland https://hightimes.com/news/house-bill-837-aims-to-legalize-pot-possession-home-grow-in-maryland/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=house-bill-837-aims-to-legalize-pot-possession-home-grow-in-maryland https://hightimes.com/news/house-bill-837-aims-to-legalize-pot-possession-home-grow-in-maryland/#respond Mon, 19 Sep 2022 17:09:27 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=291306 Activists behind a bid to legalize recreational cannabis in Maryland have launched a new ad campaign urging voters to support the proposal.

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Activists behind a ballot referendum to legalize cannabis in Maryland launched a new ad campaign last week, urging voters to support the proposal when they go to the polls on November 8. If passed, the ballot measure would make Maryland the 20th state in the union to legalize recreational marijuana for adults.

In April, the Maryland General Assembly passed two bills designed to legalize recreational marijuana. Under the proposals, Maryland voters will decide in this fall’s general election if cannabis should be legalized for adults, leaving lawmakers to pass additional legislation to regulate the commercial cannabis industry.

“We’re at the beginning of an important process where we begin to look again at how we have treated the substance—cannabis,” Delegate Luke Clippinger, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and the sponsor of the legislation, told his colleagues in the House of Delegates when they passed the bills earlier this year.

The legislation approved by lawmakers includes House Bill 837, a measure that would legalize possession of up to 1 1/2 ounces of marijuana for adults and create an equitable path to cannabis legalization, according to Clippinger. The bill would also allow adults to cultivate up to two cannabis plants at home.

Maryland Voters to Decide on Question 4 in November

House Bill 837 will go into effect if voters approve House Bill 1, a cannabis legalization constitutional amendment measure that will appear as Question 4 on the ballot for the November general election. The referendum is supported largely by Trulieve, a cannabis producer and retailer with operations in eight states, including three medical marijuana dispensaries in Maryland.

On Thursday, the campaign to pass Question 4 launched a new ad campaign featuring a website and video encouraging voters to support cannabis legalization in Maryland. Eugene Monroe, a former offensive lineman for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens and the chairman of the committee sponsoring the referendum campaign, said the ballot measure would create economic opportunities for both entrepreneurs and workers.

“Legalizing cannabis would stimulate Maryland’s economy and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, while allowing Maryland residents to benefit from vital investments in education, public health, and public safety funded by cannabis taxes,” Monroe said in a statement quoted by the Washington Post.

Supporters of cannabis policy reform in the Maryland General Assembly have said that legalizing marijuana will help the state address the harms caused by prohibition and the War on Drugs. A study from the American Civil Liberties Union showed that between 2010 and 2018, Black people in Maryland were more than twice as likely to be arrested for a marijuana-related offense than white people, despite evidence that the two groups use cannabis at nearly equal rates.

“Passing Question 4 will put an end to the failed criminalization of cannabis, create a well-regulated legal marijuana market centered around equity, and open up new doors for local entrepreneurs and small business owners,” Monroe said in the statement.

Delegate Jazz Lewis of Prince George’s County, who gave his reluctant approval to the legislation passed earlier this year, said that the legal cannabis industry should be open to all.

“We need to make sure that we build a brand new industry where people can get in where it is most appropriate for them, and that they have a support system around them so that they can thrive,” said Lewis.

Maryland legalized medical marijuana in 2014, leading to the launch of the medicinal cannabis industry three years later. But not one of the businesses approved to operate in the industry was Black-owned. Delegate Gabriel Acevero, who represents part of Montgomery County, said that the recreational cannabis industry must not follow the same path.

“The Maryland General Assembly unfortunately got it wrong on medical cannabis,” said Acevero. “It did not prioritize equity, it did not ensure that – in an industry that now generates millions – that communities most impacted would be able to participate in that.”

“We’re not prioritizing mitigating the impacts of the racist drug war – we’re just moving on this issue because we recognize that it’s very popular with Marylanders and for some people, it’s politically expedient,” Acevero added. “But we have to get this right.”

Delegate David Moon, who represents a different section of Montgomery County, is the chair of the criminal justice impacts subcommittee of the cannabis legalization workgroup. He said that the group will wait until the referendum is passed and equity studies are completed early next year before drafting a regulatory system, noting that it could be years before recreational marijuana businesses open their doors to customers.

“That’s exactly why we’re on this sort of two step process,” Moon said. “This whole conversation about licensing requires a few more conversations and analysis, I think because of exactly the history [of the medical marijuana inequities.] The workgroup meetings that have happened have been about getting the basic conversations going on licensing and health effects, so I think it’s really a preview for what’s going to happen in next year’s legislative session.”

With 50 days before the election, Question 4 is receiving strong support from the public. In a poll of 748 likely voters released on Monday morning, 59% said they would vote in favor of the referendum.

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Legalization Campaign Kicks Off in Maryland Ahead of November Vote https://hightimes.com/news/legalization-campaign-kicks-off-in-maryland-ahead-of-november-vote/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legalization-campaign-kicks-off-in-maryland-ahead-of-november-vote https://hightimes.com/news/legalization-campaign-kicks-off-in-maryland-ahead-of-november-vote/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2022 17:25:05 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=291055 The industry-backed initiative, appearing on the ballot as "Question 4," would make Maryland the 20th state to legalize recreational cannabis.

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A campaign to bring legal cannabis to Maryland officially kicked off in earnest on Thursday, as supporters look to build support ahead of this November’s vote on the initiative.

Appearing on the ballot as “Question 4,” the measure would legalize possession of cannabis for Maryland adults aged 21 and older, and also establish a regulated marijuana industry in the state.

The measure requires a simple majority to pass and, should it be approved by voters, will take effect on July 1, 2023.

“Question 4” is backed by a power player in the cannabis industry. According to The Washington Post, the campaign “relies on funding from Trulieve…an industry giant with dispensaries in eight states, including three medical locations in Maryland.” The newspaper reports that Trulieve has given $50,000 to the Question 4 campaign, which has only one other donor, Blended Public Affairs, which contributed $100 to the effort.

The chairman of the campaign is Eugene Monroe, a former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens who has become a champion of cannabis reform since retiring from the NFL.

“Legalizing cannabis would stimulate Maryland’s economy and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, while allowing Maryland residents to benefit from vital investments in education, public health, and public safety funded by cannabis taxes,” Monroe said in a statement, as quoted by The Washington Post.

In a statement on the “Yes on 4” campaign’s official website, Monroe says that passing “Question 4 will put an end to the failed criminalization of cannabis, create a well-regulated legal marijuana market centered around equity, and open up new doors for local entrepreneurs and small business owners.”

“I hope every Marylander will vote yes on Question 4 this November,” he says.

The campaign says that the proposal will lead to the “creation of a well-regulated legal market for cannabis sales would generate tens of thousands of new jobs in Maryland, and may provide new opportunities for hundreds of local small business owners and entrepreneurs,” while also “creating new small businesses and career pathways within the cannabis industry, legalization would provide an economic boost to related industries that already provide good-paying jobs for many Marylanders, including construction, real estate, and transportation.”

The “Yes on 4” campaign also asserts that legalization is “estimated to provide the state with over $135 million in tax revenue annually,” a figure it says “doesn’t include city and county revenue or the savings from the millions of dollars Maryland spends each year enforcing marijuana possession laws.”

Lawmakers in Maryland passed a bill earlier this year that set the stage for the ballot referendum. Under the legislation that passed, as The Washington Post reported on Thursday, “if the referendum passes the state will conduct a study of the impact of marijuana on public health and a disparities study looking at the business market and what might be needed to help women- and minority-owned businesses enter the industry.”

The campaign says that the new law would create a Cannabis Business Assistance Fund “to help minority- and women-owned businesses seeking to enter the legal cannabis market” in order to “help level the playing field and ensure those in Maryland who are most often left behind get a fair shot at the economic opportunities created by marijuana legalization.”

The state’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, did not sign the bill that passed earlier this year, which means that it would not require his signature to take effect.

Polling suggests that cannabis advocates could be in line for a big victory in Maryland come November.

A survey in March found that 62% of Marylanders support the legalization of cannabis for recreational use, while only 34% said they were opposed.

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Recent Johns Hopkins Medicine Study Analyzes Mislabeled CBD Products https://hightimes.com/study/recent-johns-hopkins-medicine-study-analyzes-mislabeled-cbd-products/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recent-johns-hopkins-medicine-study-analyzes-mislabeled-cbd-products https://hightimes.com/study/recent-johns-hopkins-medicine-study-analyzes-mislabeled-cbd-products/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:49:34 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=289810 More evidence that cannabis products are incorrectly labeled has come forth, adding to the discussion that accuracy is necessary for the safety of consumers.

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A study published by Johns Hopkins Medicine on July 20 found that in an evaluation of numerous CBD products, many contained an inaccurate amount of THC. Entitled “Cannabinoid Content and Label Accuracy of Hemp-Derived Topical Products Available Online and at National Retail Stores,” the study analyzed 105 topical CBD products—specifically lotions, creams, and patches—collected from “online and brick-and-mortar retail locations” in Baltimore, Maryland between July and August 2020 (but analysis didn’t occur until March through June 2022). For storefronts, this included grocery stores, pharmacies, cosmetic and beauty stores, and health and wellness stores.

The study’s lead author, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Tory Spindle, Ph.D., explained the objective behind this analysis. “Misleading labels can result in people using poorly regulated and expensive CBD products instead of FDA approved products that are established as safe and effective for a given health condition,” said Spindle.

The results found that 18% of the products contained 10% less CBD than advertised on the label. Additionally, 58% contained 10% more CBD than advertised, while only 24% contained an accurate amount of CBD.

Thirty-five percent of these products contained THC, although the amount per product did not exceed 0.3% THC, which is the legal limit for hemp. Eleven percent of those products were labeled as “THC free,” while 14% said that they contained less than 0.3% THC, and 51% did not mention THC on the labels at all.

Spindle said that the presence of THC in alleged CBD-only products could potentially put some people at risk. “Recent research has shown that people who use CBD products containing even small amounts of THC could potentially test positive for cannabis using a conventional drug test,” Spindle said.

Some of the medical claims made by these products were also inaccurate, and none of them are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Twenty-eight percent made claims about pain or inflammation, 14% made claims regarding cosmetic or beauty, and 47% specifically noted that they were not approved by the FDA, while the other 53% didn’t mention the FDA at all.

The study’s Senior Author, Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., who is also professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explained that this stark difference in results requires more research. “The variability in the chemical content and labeling found in our study highlights the need for better regulatory oversight of CBD products to ensure consumer safety,” Vandrey said.

This study is the latest to discuss the inaccuracy of cannabis products. The University of Kentucky also recently analyzed CBD oil products earlier this month, finding that out of 80 CBD oil products, only 43 contained percentages of CBD that were within 10% of the claimed content. The University of Colorado, Boulder, in partnership with Leafly, also found that cannabis labels were inaccurate.

Johns Hopkins University has continually been involved in support cannabis study efforts over the past few years. In September 2019, Johns Hopkins University launched the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research with the goal of expanding research on psychedelic substances in order to create new treatments for specific psychiatric and behavioral disorders. In October 2020, it partnered with Realm of Caring and Bloom Medicinals to work on cannabis therapy research. In October 2021, the university published a study that showed evidence of cannabis successfully treating anxiety and depression. Earlier this year in February, it asked for volunteers to participate in a paid cannabis and alcohol research initiative (which could net up to $2,660 for study completion for an individual).

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Maryland Court: Cops Can Stop, Question Someone Who Smells of Pot https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-court-cops-can-stop-question-someone-who-smells-of-pot/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=maryland-court-cops-can-stop-question-someone-who-smells-of-pot https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-court-cops-can-stop-question-someone-who-smells-of-pot/#respond Mon, 27 Jun 2022 17:44:42 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=289286 However, the court said that possession of less than 10 grams of the drug is still not a crime in Maryland.

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Officers in Maryland may stop and question an individual who smells of cannabis, a court ruled last week.

In a divided ruling, the state’s Court of Appeals said “the drug’s aroma provides police with ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the person may have 10 grams or more, thus permitting the officers to conduct a brief ‘investigatory’ stop,” the Daily Record reported.

But the ruling does not give law enforcement carte blanche in those circumstances. According to the outlet, those officers “must end the stop if they do not quickly obtain information that gives them probable cause to believe the person has at least 10 grams or has committed another criminal offense.”

And the Daily Record noted that, despite the ruling, “possession of less than 10 grams of the drug is not a crime in the state.”

The ruling stems from a case involving a 15-year-old who was found to have a handgun in his possession. Officers found the weapon on the juvenile’s waist after conducting a frisk that was prompted by the odor of cannabis.

Last year, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals––an intermediate appellate court––took up the case and ruled that the smell of weed does not justify a cop to conduct a search, citing the decriminalization of possessing 10 grams or less of cannabis in Maryland.

“Because possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana is no longer a crime, the suspicion required to support a stop for the crime of possession of marijuana, therefore, is that the person is in possession of more than 10 grams of marijuana,” Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff wrote in her opinion, as quoted by local news outlet WTOP. “And because the ‘odor of marijuana alone does not indicate the quantity, if any, of marijuana in someone’s possession,’ [citing a previous case], it cannot, by itself, provide reasonable suspicion that the person is in possession of a criminal amount of marijuana or otherwise involved in criminal activity.”

But last week’s ruling from the state’s Court of Appeals undoes that opinion.

In a 4-3 decision, the majority “public interest in investigating and prosecuting criminal offenses, balanced against an individual’s freedom of movement and reasonable expectation of privacy in their person, leads us to conclude that the odor of marijuana by itself justifies a brief investigatory detention,” according to the Daily Record.

“Given the important governmental interest in detecting, preventing, and prosecuting crime, the Fourth Amendment allows a brief seizure, based on reasonable suspicion, to attempt to determine if criminal activity is afoot,” Judge Jonathan Biran wrote in the majority opinion, as quoted by the Daily Record. “An officer who lacks probable cause to arrest is not required ‘to simply shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape.’”

Judge Michele D. Hotten, writing for the minority, said that the “smell of odor on a person, alone, makes it impossible for law enforcement to determine whether the person has engaged in a wholly innocent activity, a civil offense, or a crime.”

“While reasonable suspicion is a relatively low barrier, law enforcement may not rely on a hunch that a person may possess 10 grams of (marijuana) odor in a non-medicinal capacity to form a basis of reasonable suspicion,” Hotten wrote in the dissenting opinion, according to the Daily Record.

Another judge in the majority addressed the particulars of the stop involving the 15-year-old, saying that the “officer in this case was justified in stopping [the juvenile] because police were responding to a call that a males [sic] were smoking a controlled dangerous substance in the basement of an apartment complex, which would indicate an amount of marijuana of at least 10 grams,” according to the Daily Record.

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Maryland Judge Bans Any Talk of Legalization in Pot Trafficking Trial https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-judge-bans-any-talk-of-legalization-in-pot-trafficking-trial/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=maryland-judge-bans-any-talk-of-legalization-in-pot-trafficking-trial Mon, 02 May 2022 17:59:05 +0000 https://transhigh420.wpengine.com/?p=287735 A Maryland man, Jonathan Wall, faces hard time for distributing cannabis. Is there a double standard?

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One cannabis trafficking case between California and Maryland is putting a spotlight on the blatant hypocrisy of the justice system when it comes to cannabis-related charges.

According to prosecutors, Jonathan Wall, now 27, and 10 others transported over 1,000 kilograms of cannabis from California to Maryland over a period of two years. Given those amounts, Maryland law defines him as a “drug kingpin.”

A federal grand jury indicted him in 2019. In the case of United States v. Wall, if convicted of “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana,” Wall faces a sentence of up to 10 years to life in federal prison, with a mandatory 10-year sentence hovering over his head. 

Today marks Wall’s first appearance in court, as he is confined to a federal supermax prison. The elephant in the room, however, is the fact that cannabis is legal for adult purposes in 18 states and several jurisdictions, and legal for medical reasons in dozens more.

On April 26, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher approved a motion by prosecutors calling for the court to bar any discussion of the cannabis legalization movement currently taking place across the United States, according to Outlaw Report

In other words, the defense team is not to point out how hypocritical cannabis-related non-violent cases are in 2022, given the changes in law.

Prosecutors from the Justice Department filed the motion weeks ago requesting that the U.S. District Court of Maryland preclude Wall’s defense team “from asking questions, presenting evidence, or making arguments regarding the way the law in other jurisdictions treats marijuana.”

“Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and under federal law, it is [a] crime to conspire with others to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute marijuana,” prosecutors wrote in the motion. “The fact that other jurisdictions have legalized marijuana, decriminalized marijuana, are considering decriminalization of certain quantities of marijuana, or have declined to prosecute individuals for crimes involving marijuana, is not relevant to the issues at this trial.”

The topic of legalization is irrelevant to the trial, the judge claims. The motion added that “evidence and argument of this sort is not relevant and should be excluded from this trial.” 

Who is Jonathan Wall?

Andrew Ward profiled Wall for High Times Most Affected last year. “Everybody knows it’s federally illegal, but certainly not to that extent until they find themselves affected first-hand,” he stated. Wall was housed at the Chesapeake Detention Facility in Baltimore, known for its high level of violence. Is it really fair that one person has to weather extreme prison conditions for something that is now legal? 

Wall’s lawyer, Jason Flores-Williams, a noted activist, agreed that the War on Drugs is a dead idea, and people are still paying the consequences because of it. It begs the question of whether or not it is fair for Wall and others to be among the last.

“There are so many people who dedicated and essentially donated their life to getting this plant to where it is today, on the verge of legalization,” Wall told Insider from inside jail. “Do I have to be the last person who is prosecuted for a product that’s making billions of dollars around the world?”

Federal authorities allege that Wall served as the “architect” of the program, when he was just a 20-year-old in Humboldt County. If Wall simply had a license to transport that amount, he wouldn’ve simply been a “distributor” in the world of legal cannabis. One piece of paper makes the difference between that and trafficking charges.

Read Wall’s own account of the alleged crimes. In it, Wall details how rape charges can yield less time in prison than the drug charges he is facing.

Wall tried to get the court to dismiss his case on geographic procedural grounds and again on equal protection grounds, given the arbitrary enforcement of the federal ban on cannabis, depending on the state.

Wall’s trial begins Monday morning in the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. As of the time of writing, his petition on Change.org gained over 16,000 signatures.

Visit FreeJonathanWall.com to learn more about his ongoing case.

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Maryland Governor Won’t Block Legalization if Passed by Voters https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-governor-wont-block-legalization-if-passed-by-voters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=maryland-governor-wont-block-legalization-if-passed-by-voters https://hightimes.com/news/maryland-governor-wont-block-legalization-if-passed-by-voters/#comments Mon, 11 Apr 2022 16:42:13 +0000 https://hightimes.com/?p=286715 The measure, if approved by Maryland voters in November, will not require Governor Larry Hogan’s signature.

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Maryland voters are set to have the ultimate say on whether or not the state should legalize recreational cannabis use for adults. 

Lawmakers there earlier this month passed “a pair of bills setting a November referendum on whether the state should legalize the possession, personal use, and home cultivation of small amounts of marijuana,” the website DCist reported.

The proposal before Maryland voters is one that a growing number of states have tackled over the last decade. It would allow adults aged 21 and older “to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis, with anything between 1.5 and 2.5 ounces subject to a civil fine of $250 and anything above 2.5 ounces subject to a charge of possession with an intent to distribute,” according to DCist

And it would establish a social justice framework for those previously convicted of pot-related offenses “to seek an expungement of their records and petition for immediate release if they are incarcerated,” the website said. 

The bill would not, however, establish a regulatory system for retail sales of recreational pot. 

The legislation cleared another major hurdle last week when Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, opted not to sign the bills. 

That means that should voters approve the referendum in November, the new law will take effect without the governor’s signature. 

Hogan has been notably cagey on the issue of cannabis legalization. As the Washington Post reported earlier this month, “Hogan has never taken a public position” on the matter of recreational pot, and he has not “said how he would vote on November’s referendum that would legalize cannabis.”

Per the Baltimore Sun, Hogan has “previously said he would prefer a referendum to legislators acting directly.”

While some lawmakers had misgivings with the final proposal that won approval in the legislature, advocacy groups celebrated the prospect of bringing legalization to Maryland.

“Marylanders have long awaited a new approach to cannabis policy and the passage of these bills is a promising step forward. We applaud the legislature for taking decisive action this session to finally end the era of cannabis prohibition, a policy that is both long overdue and supported by a majority of constituents. We look forward to working with Maryland legislators on this issue moving forward,” said Olivia Naugle, senior policy analyst at the Marijuana Policy Project, as quoted by DCist.

There is good reason for those same advocates to feel bullish on the referendum’s chances in November. 

A poll released last month found that 62% of Maryland voters support legalizing recreational cannabis use, while only 34% were opposed to ending prohibition.

Notably, the findings from Goucher College that legalization polls far better in the solidly blue state than the Democrat currently residing in the White House, President Joe Biden, who carried Maryland in the 2020 election by more than 30 points over Donald Trump.

According to the poll, only 48% of Maryland voters said they approved of the job Biden is doing as president, with 47% saying they disapproved. 

Those numbers may underscore the political benefit of legalization, particularly for an embattled Democratic party entering this year’s midterm elections.

The party took power in early 2021 amid a wave of hope among legalization advocates that federal prohibition could finally be coming to an end. 

Those hopes were bolstered earlier this month, when Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a bill to deschedule cannabis on the federal level. 

The legislation now moves to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where leaders have said they hope to produce their own version of a bill by the end of this month. 

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